Asia

Disaster in Cambodia

Like a massacre

MONDAY night's deadly stampede in Phnom Penh could not have befallen Cambodia with more miserable timing. Coming at the height of the water festival—one of the most popular holidays in the Cambodian calendar—the incident cut short three joyous days of concerts, carnival rides and dragon-boat races. Instead a black pall of mourning hangs over the capital.

At least 378 people were killed, either crushed to death on a narrow footbridge or drowned in the shallow riverbed below as they fell from it. The bridge spans a part of the Tonle Sap, connecting the city proper to Diamond island, a newly built shopping and entertainment district. It is not clear what caused the panic that turned the festival crowd into a stampede; rumours abound.

The enormity of the incident has prompted comparisons to the ravages of the Khmer Rouge regime, whose 1975-79 rule resulted in the deaths of an estimated quarter of the population. As disasters go, these two are perhaps not much alike. But needless to say, Cambodians do not invoke the comparison lightly.

“This again is reminiscent of the killing in the past, but I think these killings could have been prevented. So we have to find out the responsibility of those in charge of organising the festival and handling the crowd,” he said.

Mr Rainsy blames the government for allowing private companies to evict local residents to clear the way for the Diamond island development, which he described as a haven of “luxurious compounds” for the rich. That, plus not taking action to prevent crowding on the narrow footbridge.

In many ways, the horror on the bridge can be seen to represent an outgrowth of the all that ails the country's civic life: a mixture of endemic corruption, poor planning and an indolent attitude towards rules and regulations.

The water festival, which sees a city of around 1.2m swell to more than double its normal size, has ever been a disaster waiting to happen. Every year the entire centre of Phnom Penh is snarled with hundreds of thousands of rural visitors, many of whom sleep in temples, schools and sidewalks during the period of the festival. With so many people and vehicles thronging the roads, Cambodia's informal protocol for traffic—small gives way sheepishly to large—collapses into anarchy. It is almost surprising that a disaster on this scale had never happened earlier.

Professor G. Keith Still, a senior consultant in crowd management at G4S Secure Solutions, a British security company, told the Phnom Penh Post that a number of “simple and cost-effective measures” based on an understanding of the principles of crowd dynamics could easily have prevented the tragedy. If one good thing comes out of the Monday's disaster, it is that the issue is now squarely on the agenda.

While Hun Sen's government is set to weather this storm—it has already paid 5m riels ($1,250) to each victim's family—anything like a recurrence could have more serious political consequences. In bureaucratic circles, some heads will probably roll, though not those most deserving of it. The more urgent question is whether the government can do anything to prevent ever-larger crowds from creating ever-greater calamities in the future.

Over crowding in religious places is common phenomena in most poor Asian countries. In India it happened every year.There are many reason , overpopulation, blind belief in religious dogma, illiteracy,poverty.herd mentality. How to stop this kind incident is great problem.

A crowd stampede is no way akin (no "perhaps" about it) to the murders committed by Pol Pot. He slaughtered the intellectuals because they knew his Marxist regime was based on a flawed economic theory. This was a crowd that simply was out of control. Pol Pot is, however, held in some esteem by members of the American left who never met a Marxist they didn't like.

I agree whole-heartedly with nirvana-bound (unfortunately). I lived and worked in Cambodia for 17 years, in a beautiful country, with gentle people, where the corrupt authorities and their cronies have zero respect for human life. Koh Pich was an accident waiting to happen and throwing small amounts of money at the victim's families will replace any sembalnce of what we know as justice.

I'm not sure that comparing this disaster to the genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime is entirely appropriate or relevant; but I certainly wouldn't criticize Cambodians for drawing that comparison.

There are clearly a complex mix of factors that led to this tragedy and I think it's still to early to start pointing fingers at specific people. Although I find it very 'low' of Sam Rainsy to use this to score political points, I do agree that this disaster was preventable and indicates poor planning and local governance.

One thing which struck me (as an attendee of the water festivities the previous day) was the amount of cars and motorcycles allowed into the 'pedestrian-only' area; presumable after having bribed the guards/ police officers on duty. These vehicles were severely compounding the foot traffic problem, and may have catalyzed this horrible event.